Events

The First International Seminar on Monorail and Railway 2024 (ISMR 2024) is a seminar in the field of monorail transport jointly organized by Beijing Jiaotong University and the International Monorail Association.
The symposium is held to share information about the latest development of technologies for monorail applications, new innovation approaches and to present research results. The conference also aims to promote the development of engineering construction level and technological innovation in the field of mass transportation.

The ISMR 2024 will be held in Beijing from 22-27 November. At that time, the conference will gather more than 200 domestic and foreign well-known experts and scholars as well as engineering unit representatives to interlink science with industry practice. Furthermore, the conference seeks to facilitate the advancement of engineering and construction standards/level, as well as technological innovation, within the domain of mass transportation. To recognize outstanding projects, individual and company achievements through an annual honors and awards program, the Academic Committee hands out International Railway Awards. 

Registration open

The registration is open. For international guests is recommended to use the registration form and send it back to the IMA office at info@monorailex.org.

Date and Venue

Date: 22nd to 27th November 2024
Venue: No.3 Courtyard Shangyuan Village, North Xiaguan Street, Haidian District, Beijing, China (Mechanical Building, Beijing Jiaotong University)

Preliminary Program of Seminar and Technical Tour

Seminar Schedule
Friday, 22 November 2024
18:00-20:00      Welcome Dinner

Saturday, 23 November 2024
08:30-09:00      Opening Ceremony of the Seminar
09:00-17:00      Main Presentations and Discussion
17:30-19:30      Dinner

Sunday, 24 November 2024
08:30-12:00      Main Presentations and Discussion
13:15-18:00      Award Ceremony - International Railway Awards Project Defence and Expert Scoring
18:00-20:00      Dinner
 
Technical Tour
Monday, 25 November 2024
08:00-12:00      The site will be visited to investigate the Beijing Rail Transit Expo or visit the Tiangui World at Beijing Jiaotong University.
12:00-14:00      Luncheon
14:00-18:00      Visit and experience the Beijing Metro S1 line, a medium and low-speed maglev rail transit line.
18:00-20:00      Dinner

Tuesday, 26 November 2024
07:45-13:10      Transfer Beijing to Wuhu with high-speed train; (7:45 Beijing South Railway Station, arrival 13:10 at Wuhu North Railway Station)
13:10-14:00      Luncheon
14:00-18:00      Visit to PATS CRRC, Wuhu
18:00-19:00      Dinner

Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Visit the straddle monorail traffic operating company for an in-depth understanding of the operation including maintenance of the monorail traffic system in Wuhu City.
08:30-12:30      Wuhu Operators – Ride on Monorail Lines
12:30-14:00      Luncheon
14:00-18:00      Wuhu Operators – Depot/Maintenance Facility

The International Monorail Association is excited to invite you to join its 16th annual conference, Monorailex 2024, scheduled to be held in Neumarkt/Sengenthal, Germany on September 20 through 24, 2024. Monorailex is the annual conference of the International Monorail Association with its goal to provide a platform to present new research and development of monorail systems and operational findings.

The International Monorail Association is delighted to offer once again a promising program to professionals and experts in the field. Monorailex is composed of presentations of scholarly papers and expert lectures sharing their experience with the professional audience. A special feature of the conference will be again the “Technical Visits” – this year starting already on Friday, September 20 with a tour to Max Bögl’s “Transportsystem Bögl” (TSB) and a visit to the leading trade fair for railway and transport technology “InnoTrans” on Tuesday, September 24.

The full program and attendee fees can be found on our event website www.monorailex2024.org.

Monorailex is THE platform for networking and exchange with professionals and experts in the transport sector, operator, supplier and academic field. The goal of IMA and the Monorailex is to establish the Monorail System as a recognized solution in the public transportation sector.

In addition, the association will once again be present as an exhibitor at InnoTrans 2024 - the leading international trade fair for railway and transport technology -  which takes place from 24 to 27 September in Berlin, Germany. We would therefore like to draw your attention to a new offer. We are opening our stand in Hall 4.2, Stand 100 to interested co-exhibitors and/or sponsors who do not (yet) wish to have their own stand, but would still like to exhibit or be present at the leading trade fair for railway and rail transport technology in order to meet with potential or existing customers there.

Become a sponsor and help to bring the International Monorail Association to the next level and get attention and exposure at the event and online to an audience involved in the public transport and monorail business. 

Support us. You have two options this year. You will find the overview with included services and benefits of the different packages in our information brochures available for download.

• Monorailex Sponsorship Packages
• Monorailex Sponsorship From
• InnoTrans Packages
• InnoTrans Packages Form

The International Monorail Association is excited to invite you to join its 14th annual conference, Monorailex 2022, scheduled to be held in Europa-Park Rust, Germany on September 16 through 18, 2022. In addition, there will be a Technical Visits Tour with stops in Nuremberg and Berlin from September 19 to 21, 2022.

This hybrid event takes place in advance of the world‘s largest trade fair for transport technology – InnoTrans. Monorailex 2022 is composed of presentation of scholarly papers and expert lecturers sharing their experience with the professional audience. Other highlights of the conference include the presentation of the first edition of the
Technical Performance Specifications and a comprehensive monorail market study commissioned by IMA. And, as always, Monorailex will provide the invaluable opportunity to network with other professionals in the field.

We are very pleased and honored to announce Paulo Sèrgio Amalfi Meca, Director of Engineering and Planning at Metrô São Paulo, for the keynote speech, who will give some insights of the process of choosing the monorail mode to be implemented for Lines 15 and 17, challenges faced during construction and their experience as an operator.

Please visit www.monorailex2022.org to get all program information.

We look back on an exciting and successful Monorailex Conference 2021. During the planning period it wasn’t clear if we would be able to host the Conference in-person, but we were lucky that Italy lifted some of its restrictions early, and with great support from Marino Torre (Hitachi) and Agostino Marioni (Hirun) we could host the Conference in-person in Milan.

Due to still ongoing COVID19 restrictions, some members and interested parties from Egypt, Brazil, India, China, and other countries around the globe couldn’t attend in-person, but the conference was set up as a hybrid event which made it possible to attend over Zoom; and with this to contribute to a successful event with valuable presentations and lively discussions.

The conference started on Friday, Sept 24 at the 21WOL Hotel in Milan with the Annual General Meeting of the IMA (International Monorail Association). On Saturday and Sunday, 30 participants attended in-person and 25 participated over Zoom remotely.
There were 17 technology and market-oriented presentations and 2 specifications workshops in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday followed with two days of technical visits on Monday and Tuesday:

• The visit at Marconi Express in Bologna was combined with a ride of Intamin's P30 System, insights into the OCC, and a detailed explanation of the system followed by a discussion on the various challenges and framework conditions with Rita Finzi, President of Marconi Express, and Franz Zürcher, Vice President Intamin Transportation. The Marconi Express system reduced a 35minute bus ride between the airport and Bologna main train station to 7 minutes.
• At the Politecnico di Milano – one of the leading European Universities for Engineering, Architecture, and Design – Prof. Daniele Rocchi, Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, welcomed the group of delegates with presentations and visits of different research laboratories e.g., railway engineering including a visit at wind tunnel test facility, where, for example, the construction of bridge structures can also be tested in models of up to almost 14 meters length.
• Metro Line 4 & 5 as fully automated transport solutions: Hitachi as a supplier of the CBTC (Communication Based Train Control) gave a presentation on their system and the related project in Milan. In addition, the delegates were able to gain a personal impression of fully automated metro operations with the metro ride to visit the Operations Control Centre and in-depth explanation in an exchange with the operator ATM.

The conference ended with a tour and visit to the Expo Ferroviaria, the most important national railway fair in Italy. Next to all technical and specific interchange between the attendees, there were also some fun activities like a small sightseeing tour through Milan, a visit to the vineyards in Montalto Pavese with lots of time shared along the exquisite and delicious Italian cuisine. A small photographic summary of the Monorailex 2021 can be found here.

We strive to keep our members safe and healthy while continuing to support the monorail industry during these tough times. This year Monorailex was held via Virtual Meeting to ensure the safety of our members and colleagues. The Virtual Meeting was organized in a series of activities that began on 19 September to 22 September, in 3 to 4-hour sessions each day.

The purpose and goal of the Virtual Workshop 2020 was to work on the further development of the association as well as the strategic direction for its future.

During last year’s assembly meeting (MONORAILEX 2019) that was held in Chiba, Japan, the IMA implemented two working groups whose focus was to further the development of the association.

Turnkey Systems Working Group

• Purpose: Establish applicable turnkey system performance requirement, based on international standards, to assist consultants, authorization bodies, etc.,
• Main content: Proven best practices for optimized total system approach for safe and efficient operation (e.g. passenger capacity, fleet-sizing),
• Communication Platforms: Contact other association, norming organization.

Subsystems Working Group

• Purpose: Define the recognizable international standards to support customer and industry procurement processes,
• Main content: Establish the detailed integrated subsystem performance-based requirements or specifications,
• Communication Platforms: Customer events, conferences, paper, web page.

The 11th International Monorail Associations Annual Conference (Monorailex 2019) was held at the Hotel the Manhattan in Chiba, Japan from November 24 to 27, 2019.  This event took place ahead of the Mass-Trans Innovation Japan 2019, held at the Makuhari Messe International Convention Center in Chiba. This year's conference format included presentations of scholarly papers, technical tours and networking opportunities with other professionals in the field of monorail.

The technical tours included in this year's event consisted of visits to the Mass-Trans Innovation Japan 2019, Tokyo Monorail, Tama Monorail, the Yamanashi Prefectural Maglev Exhibition Center, monorail ride to NIFREL, monorail ride to Senri-Chuo Station, and a visit to the Peace Memorial Park and Museum.